generation we

A New York Times piece published this morning sheds light on the generation gap present in views on immigration.

In the wake of the new Arizona law allowing the police to detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally, young people are largely displaying vehement opposition — leading protests on Monday at Senator John McCain’s offices in Tucson, and at the game here between the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, baby boomers, despite a youth of “live and let live,” are siding with older Americans and supporting the Arizona law.

This emerging divide has appeared in a handful of surveys taken since the measure was signed into law, including a New York Times/CBS News poll this month that found that Americans 45 and older were more likely than the young to say the Arizona law was “about right” (as opposed to “going too far” or “not far enough”). Boomers were also more likely to say that “no newcomers” should be allowed to enter the country while more young people favored a “welcome all” approach.

This makes sense given what we know about the diversity in the Millennial generation. The New Politics Institute's 2007 Report, "The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation," cites Census data showing that nearly 40 percent of Millennials do not identify as being white. "[A]bout 62 percent of Millennial adults are non-Hispanic white, 18 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian," the report notes. What sharpens the debate is that many of the areas having the most diversity among youth also have fairly homogeneous white Boomer/Silent populations.

Given their demographic diversity, Millennials hold progressive opinions about immigration compared to the rest of the population. The Times piece, for example, provides some anecdotal evidence ensconced in the opinions and stories of youths Meaghan Patrick and Nicole Vespia.

Meaghan Patrick, a junior at New College of Florida, a tiny liberal arts college in Sarasota, says discussing immigration with her older relatives is like “hitting your head against a brick wall.”

[...]

Nicole Vespia, 18, of Selden, N.Y., said older people who were worried about immigrants stealing jobs were giving up on an American ideal: capitalist meritocracy.

“If someone works better than I do, they deserve to get the job,” Ms. Vespia said. “I work in a stockroom, and my best workers are people who don’t really speak English. It’s cool to get to know them.”

Her parents’ generation, she added, just needs to adapt.

“My stepdad says, ‘Why do I have to press 1 for English?’ I think that’s ridiculous,” Ms. Vespia said, referring to the common instruction on customer-service lines. “It’s not that big of a deal. Quit crying about it. Press the button.”

The stories are backed up by data on Millennials. In his 2008 book/project Generation WE, Eric Greenberg cites data revealing Millennials' open attitudes on immigration.

Generation We also has an open and positive attitude toward immigration, much more so than older generations. In the Pew Gen Next poll, 18- to 25-year-olds, by 52 to 38, said immigrants strengthen the country with their hard work and talent, rather than are a burden on the country because they take our jobs, housing, and healthcare, compared to very narrow pluralities in this direction among Gen Xers and Boomers and 50–30 sentiment in the other direction among those 61 and over. In a 2004 Pew survey, 67 percent of 18- to 25-year-old Millennials thought the growing number of immigrants strengthens American society and only 30 percent believed this trend threatens our customs and values—again, much stronger positive sentiment than among any other generation.

Unfortunately, most Boomer-run news outlets do not pay attention to Millennial opinion on this issue. With older Americans voting at higher rates than young people, the age and views of Congress and other officeholders reinforce the fear-driven status quo. Just like many other issues, to change this reality, youth must vote in higher numbers, be willing to run for office themselves, and pair this with some organized, non-traditional resistance to mount a strong opposition.

It might be convenient to take a John Mayer approach and wait for the world to change, but how many hard-working families who already embody American values will suffer in the meantime? This is yet another issue on which we must begin making change now.

Bumped. Eric Greenberg is the Chairman and CEO of Beautifull! Food, as well as the author of Generation We: How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America and Changing Our World Forever. -Craig

Well, today is election day and there are several important races destined to be determined. I have read several articles in various blogs and newspapers, raising the question of "where are the Millennials and will they vote?" I fear "disengaged" youth will be to blamed for election day turnout (or lack there of). But what people have yet to learn is how to engage the youth in a empowering and meaningful way, Obama did it successfully, but others have not yet gotten the message.

Paradoxically, members of Generation We are not quick to claim for themselves the mantle of being particularly active or politically engaged, even though they are, in fact, among the most involved young people in history. In our focus groups, many Millennials criticized their own generation as being “apathetic” or “materialistic.”
There are a number of possible explanations for this paradox.

One is that the Millennials are measuring their and their generation’s activism—actually high relative to earlier generations of young people—against the seriousness of the planetary problems they face and finding it wanting. They are worried that their generation has not yet launched the kind of social and political movement they see as necessary to address the major issues of our time. This attitude is a reflection of their strong sense of responsibility—and also a measure of their readiness to step forward when conditions are right and a clear agenda emerges for Millennials to rally around.

Negative media coverage of youth probably also plays a role. It is intriguing to note that although Millennials in the June 2007 Democracy Corps survey were overwhelmingly convinced (87 percent) that the word “materialistic” well-described people their own age, only 35 percent felt that term well-described themselves. Generation We as a group strongly condemns materialism even as they believe (or fear) it is rampant among their peers.

The fact is Generation We is ready to work for large-scale change and to support the kind of collective movement they consider necessary for such change to occur. Perhaps only such a movement—one that empowers individuals to become, in Gandhi’s words, “the change they wish to see in the world”—can overcome the barriers Millennials see as holding them and their generation back.

We’d argue that a movement aimed at engaging and mobilizing Generation We must build on the distinctive aspects of the Millennial personality: a view that overcoming tradition and innovating to create a better future is both necessary and a central strength of their generation; a wish to embody in their lives and actions the kind of change they are seeking to make; an unabashed willingness to use their economic power as consumers; a deep embeddedness in social networks; a clear-eyed assessment of the difficulties of change, which leads them to seek not just action but plans for successful action; and of course, an appreciation of the potential of the new technologies that have done so much to shape this generation.

In short, Generation We is becoming more active and increasingly ready to support a collective social movement that embraces both government and entrepreneurship focused on the greater good. Based on their numbers and their sense of urgency, once such a movement emerges it is certain to be large, powerful, and lasting.

Eric Greenberg author of the opensource book Generation We and unbelievable supporter of the youth movement, spent an afternoon with the folks at Google as part of their authors series talking about his work on the book and the future of our generation. Incidentally, Greenberg was announced by Adam Borelli founder of the New Leader's Council

Update: Kos just posted an example of the political deafness and blindness I just described below from a 2006 Peggy Noonan column.

Excerpt:

Conservatives are always writing about the strains and stresses within the Republican Party, and they are real. But the Democratic Party seems to be near imploding, and for that most humiliating of reasons: its meaninglessness. Republicans are at least arguing over their meaning.

The venom is bubbling on websites like Kos, where Tuesday afternoon, after the Alito vote, various leftists wrote in such comments as "F--- our democratic leaders," "Vichy Democrats" and "F--- Mary Landrieu, I hope she drowns." The old union lunch-pail Democrats are dead, the intellects of the Kennedy and Johnson era retired or gone, and this--I hope she drowns--seems, increasingly, to be the authentic voice of the Democratic base.

How will a sane, stable, serious Democrat get the nomination in 2008 when these are the activists to whom the appeal must be made?

Republicans have crazies. All parties do. But in the case of the Democrats--the leader of their party, after all, is the unhinged Howard Dean--the lunatics seem increasingly to be taking over the long-term health-care facility. Great parties die this way, or show that they are dying.

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As if 2006 and 2008 weren't humiliating enough for the Grand Old Party, they're trying their best to get to a whole new kind of embarrassment come 2010/2012.

Obviously blind and deaf to the current political environment and demographics, we see the Republicans taking steps backward to accommodate the political views of its ever-shrinking base. John Boehner sounds a lot like Herbert Hoover:

“If we’re really serious about creating jobs, what we ought to do is we ought to eliminate the capital-gains tax,” Boehner said on Fox. “Why not lower capital gains taxes for -- and corporate income taxes for corporations in America to help keep jobs here?”

And then we get word that South Carolina Republican chair, Katon Dawson, is running for chairman of the Republican National Committee. Yes, that whites-only club member Katon Dawson, who didn't decide until September, when he realized he wanted to run for RNC chair, that he'd get rid of his racist ties.

Katon Dawson, the South Carolina GOP chairman, announced his candidacy for RNC chair yesterday.

And guess what: Back in September, when Dawson was first quietly laying the groundwork for his RNC run, The State newspaper reported that he resigned his membership in the nearly 80-year-old Forest Lake Club. Members told the newspaper at the time that the club's deed has a whites-only restriction and has no black members.

[...]

What's more, The State said that Dawson resigned the club after it became known that the paper was getting ready to report his membership.

So here we are, almost four weeks after Election Day, and the GOP continues to ignore the warning signs.

1. Like similar reports, a report from the Center for American Progress released a few weeks ago finds that Millennials (18-29 year old voters in the 2008 election) overwhelmingly saw government as the chief problem-solver.

   

2. From the Generation We and 2008 report discussed in Mike's post last week, Millennials are more concerned that the wealthiest in society and corporations will get too many tax breaks than be taxed too much.
   

   Millennials showed less tax sensitivity than voters as a whole in terms of moves to increase economic performance and fairness. For example, respondents were given the choice “I'm more worried that we will fail to make the investments we need to create jobs and strengthen the economy. OR I'm more worried that we will go too far in increasing government spending and will end up raising taxes to pay for it”. Millennials chose the first over the second statement by 67-33, while voters overall were split down the middle 48-49. Similarly, the following choice was posed about corporate tax breaks: “I'm more worried that we will give more tax breaks to the rich and corporations. OR I'm more worried that we will go too far taxing the rich and corporations”. Millennials favored the first statement over the second by 74-26, compared to 61-34 among all voters.

   A related economic policy choice was the following: “When I voted, I was more concerned that Obama will raise taxes and increase government spending. OR When I voted, I was more concerned that McCain will continue the economic policies that have cost us jobs and caused higher prices”. By 57-33, Millennials were more concerned about McCain’s policies causing job loss and price hikes than about Obama’s policies causing tax hikes and spending increases. But among voters as a whole, this choice
   elicited a very close 49-45 split.

3. The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation report notes that Millennials are the most diverse generation in America's history, believing that race shouldn't limit relationships with other human beings, romantic or otherwise.
   

   According to March, 2006 Census data, about 62 percent of Millennial adults are non-Hispanic white, 18 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian. Reflecting this diversity and a generational proclivity toward seeing race as “no big deal,” Millennial attitudes on race are extremely progressive. According to the Pew Gen Next study, in 2003, almost all (89 percent) of white 18-25 year old Millennials said they agreed that “it’s all right for blacks and whites to date each other,” including 64 percent who “completely” agreed. Back in 1987-88, when the same question was posed to white 18-25 year old Gen Xers, just 56 percent agreed with this statement. Data from a 2005 Gallup poll underscore these findings; 95 percent of 18-29 year olds said they approve of blacks and whites dating and 60 percent of this age group said they had dated someone of a different race. In addition, 82 percent of white 18-25 year old Millennials in 2003 disagreed with the idea that they “don’t have much in common with people of other races.”

Young voters want the country to go in one direction, and the GOP, in these two examples, are apparently going to go the other way.

While this GOP stubbornness is certainly good news for the Democratic Party (provided we keep improving our youth outreach efforts), it's sad for the country. In order for youth to be healthily engaged in politics, both parties need to hold up their end of the bargain.

Happy Holidays. Here's what's caught my eye this week:

• The Washington Independent notes that Obama's energy policy is being driven by (young) green votes.
• AlterNet asks, Will the youth movement save the labor movement?
• Daily Kos has data that Join the Impact's anti-Prop 8 protests have changed enough minds in California that the ballot measure would not pass a second time. And they have data to prove it. That's an effective use of the protest model.
• The National Journal credits young voters with Obama's win, noting that his advantage among Millennials is bad news for the longterm health of the GOP. Generation We, YDA and others get good play in this excellent article.
• Oregon local news notes that young people were elected to the state legislature in droves this year, doubling their numbers within the Democratic caucus. Jefferson Smith, one of the founders of the Bus Project, is one of those new Young Elected Officials and he is quoted in the article.
• Netcentric Advocacy gives us the Obama campaign by the numbers. Interesting stats here.
• This is a must read. In the Huffington Post, Jake Brewer of the Energy Action Coalition, son of a GM worker, gives a heartbreaking and insightful account of the state of the auto industry. Word on the street is that this piece is getting read by GM execs.
• MySpace and Change.org are partnering with a number of other youthy and techie c3s to ask for your ideas on what President Obama should do once he takes office. They've got a cool Digg-style site set up to rate ideas, which must be no more than 250 words in length.
• The Obama Transition Team wants your ideas on healthcare.
• The Daily Kos empire expands with the launch of Congress Matters, a new blog that will track what's going on in Congress and offer activists and regular citizens information on how they can most impact the policy process.
• Danah Boyd and some other smarties have finished a three year ethnographic study of digital youth. This should be interesting.
• Engaged Youth has a post up about the "Activism Style of Millennials."
• At Tech President, Micah Sifry interviews Marshall Ganz about Obama's field operation and the upside and dangers of Obama as the first President backed by a full-fledged movement.

Update: Kim Ong, the author of the video, sent me a quick response to my congrats about the awesomeness of the work. Kim suggested we also check out Youth Malaysia a sweet site about their movement. I'm now on a hunt to find other similar sites/countries that are empowering young people, we've seen their impact in the google news alerts, but I'm sure there are more.
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When I interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this year, one of her praises for the Millennial Generation is our ability to span the globe to unite as one group working together for issues that impact us.

Here is a new video uploaded from a YouTuber in Malaysia who interviewed people about their thoughts on Generation We. Its really pretty cool to see stuff like this

Earlier this week, Generation We, in conjunction with Ruy Teixeira, released an updated survey (pdf) of the attitudes and activities of Millennials in the 2008 election (attached, download at bottom). Covering everything from voting rates to views on the role of government, it reads as a good update to an NPI report that we often quote: The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation.

What sets it apart from most of the analysis of the youth vote that you've read here and elsewhere is that the report, like the book on which it is based, isn't just a primer on youth participation. It's a generational analysis that is concerned with the political power of Millennials now, as they enter the electorate in significant numbers, as well as 10, 20, and 30 years from now, when Millennials will comprise a plurality of the electorate. You should read it (pdf) and bookmark it. It's a great reference guide if you don't want to sort through 6 different data sets looking for information on Millennials.

During their press briefing to release the report, one of the more interesting topics of discussion focused on cohort replacement - the impact that the Millennials will have as they age into the electorate and older, more conservative demographics age out (Read: die).

The voting inclinations of the Millennials, hugely important in this election, could become even more so over time. If Millennials remain oriented as they are and maintain the generational consistency they have shown so far, the simple process of cohort replacement—more Millennials moving into the electorate and taking the place of older voters—will increase the Democrats’ margin over the GOP by an additional two and a half percentage points in 2012 and then by another two and a half points in 2016. That’s quite a shift.

And that shift will definitely be toward the Democrats and the relatively progressive politics they represent, not just toward Obama. In 2008, the 66-32 margin for Obama among 18-29 year olds was not far off the 63-34 margin for House Democrats among this age group. Even more important, party identification among 18-29 year olds, according to data released by the Pew Research Center right before the election, has been running 29 points pro-Democratic (61-32), an absolutely stunning figure. Party identification is the single strongest predictor of how people vote and tends to stick with individuals once they form an attachment early in their political lives. It appears that the Democrats in particular and progressive politics in general will be reaping the benefits of Millennials’ strong political leanings for many years to come.

This is very encouraging, but I just want to issue a word of caution. As a number of panelists mentioned at the press briefing, this swing towards the Democrats didn't come out of nowhere and the progressive politics of Millennials is not fait accompli. It was greatly assisted by the work of the Obama campaign and independent youth organizations reaching out to young people and including them in the process.

As Al Acker, President of the Young Democrats, noted during the panel, youth groups had far less support this year than in previous years. And Obama's campaign is just that - a campaign. We don't know how or if it will translate into a permanent piece of infrastructure. Out of all the state parties in the country, only one - Ohio - had anything even resembling a strong youth outreach component. The party committees (DSCC, DCCC) are still not sold on the idea of youth outreach as a part of their work vital to the long term health of the party. All this as word comes down that the 50 State Strategy, another vital piece of progressive infrastructure focused on making long term gains for the party, may not survive beyond this election cycle.

As the chart in the sidebar shows, Republicans had the youth vote during the Reagan years and they lost it as they stopped reaching out and talking to young voters. Right now the youngest Millennials are very young. Young enough that Obama's historic election will be a permanent fact of life to them, as natural as computers and cell phones are to those growing up in the last ten years. There's no guarantee that what we did this year will move them to support Democrats or even Progressives without continued investment in outreach - anymore than the youngest of Obama's supporters this year were moved by us "old-hands" pining about the Dean days

Some Sunday reading:

• The New York Times reports that President Obama may have to give up his blackberry. It certainly is nice to have a technologically-engaged president in the White House who is at least pushing the envelope on these issues.
• Meanwhile, Obama's not procrastinating at staffing his White House. Some more roles have been filled today.
• An examination of young voters' preoccupation with merit and what that meant in the Minnesota senate race.
• A panel discussion on "Generation We" will be held tomorrow at Noon at the First Amendment Lounge at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, in Washington, DC. Sponsored by Eric Greenberg, author of the book "Generation We: How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America And Changing Our World Forever," and moderated by The Politico's Ben Adler, the panel will include the following confirmed panelists: Ruy Teixeira, Senior Fellow at both The Century Foundation and American Progress, who will present new findings on the youth vote this election cycle; Alexandra Acker, national executive director of Young Democrats of America; Michael Moschella, director of outreach at the Truman National Security Project; and Kat Barr, political outreach director at Rock the Vote.
• Bruce E. Cain, a professor at UC Berkeley, offers his thoughts on the GOP's demographics problems. He discusses youth and their current politics and nails it:
  

  Finally, there is the new generation. Even before this election, the Generation Y kids were participating in public life at higher levels than their Generation X predecessors. What strikes me as I read their resumes and talk to them at the university is that they are more service-oriented (partly because community service is a requirement at many schools), technologically oriented (they have been running computers and electronics for their parents for years) and world-savvy (they intern as a way of testing out the world). Generation X was the "me" generation; Y seems to be the "us" cohort. Republicans may want to think about what that means for them.

• An examination of the new electorate in American politics.
• The Nation has a "You Voted. Now What?" post-election guide for young voters on how to stay engaged. Check it out.
• Young Australians are also politically engaged at record levels.
• "Liberal" just isn't pejorative with young voters. Deal with it.

Your Saturday afternoon reading.

• Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and Professor of Politics, makes a YouTube video for students, advising them on why and how to get involved in the 2008 election:
  
• Record voter registration in Michigan (with the college town counties forming the list of top five counties with the largest number of new registered voters).
• Florida A&M celebrates the start of early voting in Florida in a big way: one thousand faculty, students, and staff, led by the president, cast votes.
• The GOP must have missed the memo: voter suppression isn't "in" this election cycle. Sorry.
• Rock the Vote prepares for the youth vote tsunami.
• Ypulse, partnering with Alex Steed on his tour across America to meet and talk with other young activists, has a post regarding conversations with young Millennial business leaders engaging in socially responsible business practices.
• Voting on the weekend? An op-ed in the Times explores the benefits of holding two election days -- on Saturday and Sunday -- the first weekend of November.
• A global consensus: 90 percent of youth around the world want to see action taken on climate change.
• A new round of polling of gamers on Xbox Live yields a predictable result: their top concern is jobs and the economy.
• Sarah wrote about Generation We this week, the new site with a plethora of data on Millennials and a free copy of the book by Eric Greenberg. It's Getting Hot in Here has more coverage.
• A great piece by Adrian Talbott on Millennials' engagement thus far this election cycle at Huffington Post.

I think Mike referenced Generation We in a list of greatest hits last month. We've all been pretty busy and Gen We is full of some of the most tasty information I've seen in quite some time. I'm combing my way through it, but unfortunately, only between other stuff, which means I haven't gotten as far as I'd like to. I'm also reading it completely out of order.

Writer Eric Greenberg pulled together the results of over eighteen months of research, polls and focus groups to prove one thing: the Millennial Generation is a force to be reckoned with. Through his new book, and a website, Greenberg is harnessing the thoughts and energy of a younger generation.

GenWe was Greenberg's project to help the Millennial Generation empower itself against much scrutiny. Speaking with US News, he said:

"They are not a 'me' generation; they are the 'we' generation," he says. "They are about the greater good," he adds, noting that they're really jazzed up about the environment and the energy crisis. Armed with his huge study, he's urging both presidential campaigns to focus on one mega-idea the kids endorsed; an Apollo-style approach to the energy crisis."

According to the extensive data in GenWe there are between 95 and 100 million people born between 1978 and 2000, and now more than ever those over 95 million young people are united around the same political issues and visions.

The book also makes the case that Millennials are:

• Dedicated to improving the common good over individual gain, a sentiment that crosses all racial, ideological and partisan lines.
• Reject fundamental principles of modern conservatism –primary focus on individual rights and trickle down economics.
• Welcome innovation and are eager to establish a new. paradigm

Gen We just released a great video that Eric says is "about American youth reclaiming their birthright, spoken in their voices. And it ends with a great call to action . . . Make sure you watch it to the end!"

Greenberg describes many of the issues our world faces today, such as the climate crisis, are of importance for younger folks. These issues span across parties, races, genders, and location. According to the book, Republicans and democrats agree on these issues 85 percent of the time.

"Youth don't realize they have more in common with each other than anything else," Greenberg said in a phone interview. "They have a balance of power in the world more than anyone else, and collectively have a lot of power globally."

He urges Millennials not to put off these problems until tomorrow.

The presidential election is only the first step. The second step is encapsulated on the website that gives young voters and organizations practical organizing tools, from fifteen minute activism to weekend projects and legislation.

WE also has a new website that they say "is the beginning of a community to enable the Millennial Generation to mobilize and continue their important political engagement: www.gen-we.org."

Eric says in an email

"(Millennials) have emerged as a powerful political and social force. As the largest generation in history, they are independent - politically, socially, and philosophically - and are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world. One only has to look as far as the Obama phenomena to understand that. In the latest quarter of fundraising alone, a staggering 128,000 students donated to his campaign.

We are happy to announce that we have released Generation We: How American Youth Are Taking Over America and the World Forever and all of the research that went into it FREE as open source at www.gen-we.com. It’s the open-source publishing model that makes Generation We a landmark for the information industry. Physical copies are available through bookstores and online. It’s a unique approach that sacrifices profit to make the ideas as accessible as quickly and broadly as possible.

When I last spoke with Eric he said he was hoping this site could allow groups who couldn't afford to buy these tools themselves and utilize them, to come together around a movement. It also allows young organizers bring people together around local issues or community issues that mega orgs don't talk about.

Its a great book, good site, and I'm grateful we have this available to us now.